When I try to explain to Americans who Lisa LaFlamme is, I usually say she’s the Katie Couric of Canada: a trusted television anchor on screens across the country.
Such shorthand is necessary because you could be the Queen of Canada and still entirely unknown to 99.99% of people in the United States.
Before last week, the subject of LaFlamme arose in my circle because she is also the significant other of this paper’s former editor and my current friend, Michael Cooke, a perennial topic of conversation in the way that only a certain kind of brash Brit can be.
LaFlamme posted a heartfelt video on Twitter last Monday, announcing that the anchor chair had been yanked out from under her by CTV News’ parent company, Bell Media.
“I was blindsided,” she said. “And am still shocked and saddened by Bell Media’s decision.”
Viewers naturally suspect she was let go because she let her hair go gray during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Couric, despite being a serious journalist, was often dismissed as merely perky. So LaFlamme, though doggedly covering the biggest international news stories, was also a woman atop a male-dominated industry, so not always treated seriously. Her decision to stop dying her hair made national headlines in Canada.
Headlines like “The silver lining to letting our grey hairs flourish during the pandemic,” — parroting the Brits, they call gray “grey” up there — over an opinion piece in the Globe and Mail reaching a conclusion that obviously eluded CTV top brass: “Ms. LaFlamme could have easily sprayed her roots with a shot of Magic Root Cover Up ... but instead decided to let her grey flag fly, and in doing so she somehow earned even more of my trust and respect. So is grey the new honesty?”
Not at CTV. Speaking of honesty, I was initially inclined not to write about LaFlamme — going to bat for a pal’s partner is not exactly Journalism 101. But the Washington Post thought this important enough to weigh in Friday:
“The abrupt dismissal of one of the country’s most prominent television journalists — she has led Canada’s most watched nightly newscast since 2011, and this year won the Canadian Screen Award for best national news anchor — has drawn both a backlash and a national conversation about sexism and age discrimination in the media.”
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There's a lot that has already been said about Katie Couric. Most of it is very unfavorable, so I won't repeat it here. Calling a woman the Katie Couric of Canada may not be all that complimentary.
ReplyDeleteDorothy Fuldheim's long broadcasting career--55years--ended when she had a stroke in 1984, at 91. She was still conducting interviews and reading commentaries on-air three times every day. She died in Cleveland five years later, at the age of 96. The stories about her are legendary. Supposedly, she once interviewed Hitler, who was unaware that she was Jewish. When he later telephoned her, he was put on hold. Or maybe she hung up on Hitler. I've heard both versions.
A famous Fuldheim quote...and especially appropriate for today's blog: "This is a youth-oriented society, and the joke is on them because youth is a disease from which we all recover."
This is not new as all the TV “news” outlets have changed their priorities as to what face is on the screen and what they air. It’s all about the ratings.
ReplyDeleteCTV found an excuse and ran with it.
Does anyone really think that Hannity, Carlson, et al believe a word of what they spew? What they know is their rhetoric brings in the bucks and that’s all that matters to them.
I hope Neil will let us know if Lisa gets her job back.
ReplyDeletejohn
When I decided to let my hair go grey (gray?) I noticed when people were talking to me who hadn't seen me for a while would be looking at my hair noticing it was not my normal (dyed) brownish red color. Every time this happened I would say "and I decided to let my hair go grey--I think people know that I have a 25-year-old child I'm not 40 anymore". And a look of relief always appeared on their face as if to say to me "she knows it's grey!" That was around 20 years ago and it's still grey.
ReplyDelete